Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Management ethos and cry babies!

What is the hoopla about recession striking the service industry , inflation effecting the market in total and attrition rate giving a hard blow to the BPO-ITES industries.Sometimes whilst searching for answers to bigger issues we lose track of the small things that acts as a silent killer of the market. I guess people need to come familiar with a term called JOB SATISFACTION.

Sound easy isn’t it. Well the question is , is it as easy as said ? India is like mother of customer service industry with manpower in abundance and pool of individuals thriving to make it big in the sector. It all began as a fairy tale with small call centers captivating the minds of the industrial giants who could do away with everything apart from customer satisfaction. Those who have been in service industry will have it as a genetic disorder to use the conjunction ‘ however’ almost in every sentence. This means if you call a customer service center , speak to a human voice who tells you we can not help you however you have no choice but to stick with us ! The people who joined in the industry a decade back are now in managerial positions almost .

Would brief you about a recent happening in my organization. The team manager comes from service background and for her there is no end to a sentence if usage of ‘however’ doesn’t come. Every time we meet, there is least of acknowledgement of the performance of the banking associates and more of a pessimistic approach. Her school of thoughts reminds you of your Head Mistress while you were pursuing academics. The policy of the company states that to apply for a vertical promotion in any respect one has to comply with basic rules such as completion of 18 months in the organization. After all the hoopla about the promotion a candidate fairly new to the financial service industry and not even 12 months old got the promotion. No qualms on her as it is not her but the management who laid the policies and they want the sub ordinates to abide. The person however is average and has to pick up on the fundamentals before can jump as an expert . End result , seniors resigned! The management is still convinced with the result despite the cost , productivity getting effected.

People need to wake up and smell the coffee if they want the turnaround in the sector to be a booming one and not doomed. There is a department of Human Resources in every organization whose main responsibility is to be employee effective and their job is to project the humane front of the matter and counsel the employee accordingly . Do not make rules , redundant and abstract in the present times. Learn to identify the industry you ‘re working to know the exact requirements. Customer service and accounting services who flip sides of industry and their management ethics beg to differ.

The best way to retain employee and produce new opportunities is to finally give up old school of thoughts where despite your performance being outstanding you ‘re paid in peanuts as you were out of the office for two days!

This is what has happened in my organization which inarguably is one of the most esteemed customer service and financial service industry and provides financial service to many fortune 500 companies in European market . If a manager can not differentiate the methodology between a contact center and accounts department then probably the ideal way is to position the manager where she is best at. Sometimes internal issues take a toll and if you want betterment of it this should be looked with consideration as a fact of the matter.